Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters

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Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters (eBook) Pub. Date: 12/1/1990 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
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Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters (Reprint) Pub. Date: 12/28/1990 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

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Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters Pub. Date: 5/15/1972 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters Pub. Date: 12/29/1969 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

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Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters Pub. Date: 12/20/1969 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

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Overview

Each working day from January 29 to November 1, 1951, John Steinbeck warmed up to the work of writing East of Eden and a letter to the late Pascal Covici, his friend and editor of the Viking Press. It was his way, he said, of "getting my mental arm in shape to pitch a good game."

Steinbeck's letters were written on the left-handed pages of a notebook in which the facing pages would be filled with the text of East of Eden. They touched on many subjects - story arguements, trial flights of workmanship, concern for his sons.

Part autobiography, part writer's workshop, these letters offer an illuminating perspective on Steinbeck's creative process, and a fascinating glimpse of Steinbeck, the private man.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780140144185
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Publication date: 12/28/1990
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 192
Sales rank: 285,911
Product dimensions: 5.08 (w) x 7.86 (h) x 0.57 (d)

Meet the Author

John Steinbeck

Chronicling American dreams destroyed by either injustice or the simple difficulty of the world, John Steinbeck left lasting testaments to the struggles of working people in The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row. His refusal to water down his realistic work got some of his books banned – and earned him a Nobel Prize.

Biography

John Ernst Steinbeck, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner, was born in Salinas, California February 27, 1902. His father, John Steinbeck, served as Monterey County Treasurer for many years. His mother, Olive Hamilton, was a former schoolteacher who developed in him a love of literature. Young Steinbeck came to know the Salinas Valley well, working as a hired hand on nearby ranches in Monterey County. In 1919, he graduated from Salinas High School as president of his class and entered Stanford University majoring in English. Stanford did not claim his undivided attention. During this time he attended only sporadically while working at a variety jobs including on with the Big Sur highway project, and one at Spreckels Sugar Company near Salinas.

Steinbeck left Stanford permanently in 1925 to pursue a career in writing in New York City. He was unsuccessful and returned, disappointed, to California the following year. Though his first novel, Cup of Gold, was published in 1929, it attracted little literary attention. Two subsequent novels, The Pastures of Heaven and To A God Unknown, met the same fate.

After moving to the Monterey Peninsula in 1930, Steinbeck and his new wife, Carol Henning, made their home in Pacific Grove. Here, not far from famed Cannery Row, heart of the California sardine industry, Steinbeck found material he would later use for two more works, Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row.

With Tortilla Flat (1935), Steinbeck's career took a decidedly positive turn, receiving the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. He felt encouraged to continue writing, relying on extensive research and personal observation of the human drama for his stories. In 1937, Of Mice and Men was published. Two years later, the novel was produced on Broadway and made into a movie. In 1940, Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Grapes of Wrath, bringing to public attention the plight of dispossessed farmers.

After Steinbeck and Henning divorced in 1942, he married Gwyndolyn Conger. The couple moved to New York City and had two sons, Thomas and two years later, John. During the war years, Steinbeck served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. Some of his dispatches reappeared in Once There Was A War. In 1945, Steinbeck published Cannery Row and continued to write prolifically, producing plays, short stories and film scripts. In 1950, he married Elaine Anderson Scott and they remained together until his death.

Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "...for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humor and keen social perception.." In his acceptance speech, Steinbeck summarized what he sought to achieve through his works:

"...Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it and it has not changed except to become more needed. The skalds, the bards, the writers are not separate and exclusive. From the beginning, their functions, their duties, their responsibilities have been decreed by our species...Further more, the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity of greatness of heart and spirit—gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and emulation. I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature..."

Steinbeck remained a private person, shunning publicity and moving frequently in his search for privacy. He died on December 20, 1968 in New York City, where he and his family made a home. But his final resting place was the valley he had written about with such passion. At his request, his ashes were interred in the Garden of Memories cemetery in Salinas. He is survived by his son, Thomas.

Author biography courtesy of the National Steinbeck Center.

1. Also Known As:
  
  Amnesia Glasscock
  John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (full name); Amnesia Glasscock
1. Date of Birth:
  
  February 27, 1902
2. Place of Birth:
  
  Salinas, California
1. Date of Death:
  
  December 20, 1968
2. Place of Death:
  
  New York, New York

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JPBrown

Posted January 13, 2012

An interesting "behind the scenes" look

I'm about 1/2 way through this journal and it's a great read if you're a fan on the novel. You get a feel for the emotional and extremely personal attachment Steinbeck had to this novel from this journal.

Interesting to watch how the characters / storyline originally developed, as well as Steinbeck reacting to what he expects the critics to say about the text.

It's not just about the story though. Steinbeck talks about his family life, contemporary history (apparently he was not a fan of Gen. MacArthur), and the joys/pains of writing.

Parts can be repetitive (he continually writes about the deliberately slow pace of the novel), but overall I find this insight into the writing process and into the mind of one of the greatest American authors as he creates what he considered his masterpiece to be worth the time to read.
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Posted January 5, 2010

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Posted January 16, 2011

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